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Aniko Around the Interwebs

A few weeks ago, I gave in and set up a Twitter account. I proceeded to wonder what in the world I would say, who I would follow, who would follow me. It was a weekday, and it was time to get ready for work, so I left my writing desk. I forgot about Twitter. Then someone (his name begins with ‘Paul’ and ends with ‘Dail’) found my abandoned Twitter account. Just like that I had a follower. Very cool! I, Aniko Carmean, have actually even tweeted. Twice!

I have also joined BookBlogs and GoodReads. I realize now that I have lived a life that was nearly off the grid up until I decided to publish my novel. How interesting that my most introverted habit (writing) is the catalyst for all these extraverted digital excursions.

In my last post, I set myself a deadline to finish incorporating my copyeditor’s suggestions into STOLEN CLIMATES. I met my deadline, finishing the edit before lunch. And it wasn’t even a late lunch!

I also wrote my acknowledgments and the author bio. Nothing comes into being through the efforts of only one person, and it felt really good to be at the stage in the novel’s lifecycle where I could compile and write my thank yous. The author bio was fun, too. I took some advice I read and included a link to my blog as well as a note asking readers to review the book if they liked it. That isn’t tacky, is it?

I love rainy days. Living in an area suffering from the century’s worst drought, I almost forgot how wonderful it is to hear rain falling on the roof. I wondered what those weird things were on the windshield of my car, you know those black rubbery arms that get in the way when you try and use the gunky, blue water at the gas station to clean off the accumulation of four months of dust? At one point during the summer it was so dry, when my Doberman ran across the yard, she would raise a cloud of dust behind her. We still took showers. Don’t worry, things weren’t as bad as all that, although I was dismayed when my plumber suggested we turn up the pressure at the street to increase flow into the house. Given that farmers are going to be denied their water rights if rain doesn’t come, it seemed just shy of negligent to suggest that we use more water, especially when we had no complaints about the pressure. I haven’t washed my car in months, and it shows. My front yard turned brown, then started to blow away because I refused to water a non-native, non-drought-resistant lawn. Xeriscaping is in my future.

But it’s raining now, has been all weekend, so there was no work done in the yard. Everything will get done in its own time. Setbacks befall everyone, hell, they befall all of Nature. Times aren’t always easy, not all days are honey-sweet. If this summer is proof of anything, though, it’s that even the worst drought ends.

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6 thoughts on “Aniko Around the Interwebs”

Welcome to the world of Twitter (which is basically like Facebook with a little less drama). It took me a while to finally succumb to Twitter too but so far I haven’t regretted it. Goodreads is a pretty good site as well. It’s fun to set up your own author page and books there. Although once my book finally comes out, I think I’m not sure if that’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing. Haven’t checked out Book Blogs though.

And yes, acknowledgments are fun. I did mine in the afterword and it helps remind me that writing a book isn’t a one person journey.

Thanks for stopping by, Andrew! I held out as long as I could on Twitter. I am glad to hear there is less drama – Facebook traumatized me! I’ll have to check out your site and find out what sort of book you’re publishing. Isn’t it funny how publication will shift our relationship to the experience of sites like Goodreads? I haven’t been there long, as you know, but it’s a whole different thing to be part of the content being scrutinized rather than just part of the critiquing crowd.

Glad to be your first follower. I kind of go in waves. I’ll have a day where I’ll do five or six tweets and then nothing for days (which is supposedly not the best habit for the aspiring marketer… blech.)

Funny comment about how extroverted we’re supposed to be. There’s a reason we’re writers dammit! We may want to be recognized on the street by fans, but as opposed to actors, it’s not our faces we want people to remember.

Having said all that, I am a pretty social person (although I just developed this tendency over the past seven or eight years). For me it’s always been that I’ve just wanted to be an artist, not a business man, and while I have some fun days on Twitter (like when I can recommend a friend’s post), mostly it feels like business. We’ll have to talk more about Goodreads sometime. Fun site. Lots of possibilities for writers and readers. Not doing much with it currently.

I am not good at Twitter in the sense that I tend to try and hold conversations with particular users. I think it’s supposed to be more of a broadcast tool, but I have always preferred a talking with one person. I’m still working up to the Twitter-shout-into-a-shouting-crowd default mode! Also, I’ve been surprised at how many people I thought I’d like following that turn out to annoy the bleep out of me! Slipstream to the rescue!

I’d be absolutely surprised if anyone ever recognized me on the street! It would be initially confusing, because I live my daily life using my first name, and my middle name for my writing/online presence. I saw a friend this past weekend (who reads my blog, so hello, Tiffany!) who said something to the effect that I am my own alter ego!

As far as GoodReads goes, I’m using it as another place to post reviews I write. When STOLEN CLIMATES comes out, I have plans to host a give away there, and possibly do some very targeted advertising on GoodReads as well. Of all the options,I’ve heard the most indies say that’s where they’ve gotten at least some bang for their marketing buck on that site.